The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, Vol 4(17) - The British Lottery and Health

The British National Lottery, started in 1994, is now the largest lottery in the world. Its size and national scope have made it an apt subject for numerous reseachers in the field of gambling studies. Reid, Woodford, Roberts, Golding, & Towell (1999) used the Lottery as the basis for their investigation of gambling and its health correlates. An opportunity sample of 780 adults recruited from various employers and a university were given an instrument consisting of a variety of demographic, gambling, and health-related items. The 61.8% response rate yielded 482 completed questionnaires (183 from women, 299 from men). Health behaviors... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(16) - The Big Money

Although the next American Presidential election is still 19 months away, several politicians have already announced their candidacy while Sunday morning pundits discuss the upcoming campaign season. In recent years, the issue of campaign finance reform has figured prominently in political discourse, and it is likely that the trend will continue. Much of the debate centers around so-called “soft money.” Although there are limits on the amount an individual or group can contribute to a particular candidate, there are no limits on the amounts given to a political party. Thus, although an individual may give only a limited amount to... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(15) - Vital Statistics: The Lottery

The figures below represent a sample of some of the state lottery statistics recently published in International Gaming & Wagering Business, a trade magazine of the gambling industry. The rankings serve as a comparatice barometer of lettery efficiency, sales, government revenue, and othe rmeasures. Rather than document unadjusted groos total, IGWB presents ratios that take into account factors such as personal income and operating expenses. Abstracted from teh statistics, we find that Massachusetts spends the largest proportion of their income on the lottery. Perhaps this is related to the fact that Massachusetts pays out the largest percentage of its lottery... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(14) - Sensation-seeking and Impulsivity

Several studies have examined the relationship between pathological gambling, sensation seeking, and impulsivity. That the latter has received special attention is likely a function of DSM-IV’s classification of pathologi­cal gambling as an impulse control disorder (ICD). Lejoyeux, Feuche, Loi, Solomon, and Ades (1998) add to this discourse by employing a particularly interesting and rigorous methodology. Drawing from a population of patients hospitalized for alcohol detoxification, the authors assembled two age and sex-matched groups: one composed of alcoholics with ICDs and one composed of alcoholics with no ICD comorbidity. A third control group included subjects without psychiatric disorders, also age and... Read more →